Electric water heater



March 6, 1928.

J. H. EWART ELECTRIC WATER HEATER Filed July '7, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2March 6, 1928.

J. H. EWART ELECTRI 0 WATER HEATER Filed July '7. 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3Patented Mar. 6, 1928.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN HENRY EW'ART, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

ELECTRIC WATER HEATER.

Application filed July 7, 1926, Serial No. 121,026, and in Great BritainJanuary 12, 1926.

This invention relates to improvements in electric water-heaters orgeysers and in heating elements therefor.

According to the invention the heater comp ises a water tank having atits lower portion thereof sockets for the attachment of an electricheating element at suitable intervals, the said heating elements eachcomprising a conductor wire Wound on a former carrying plugs orterminals for insertion in the sockets provided on the lower portion ofthe heater body so that it is possible readily to remove the individualelements from the heater body when desired.

In a suitable arrangement according to the invention the heatercomprises a cylindri a1 or other form of tank with the usual inlet andoutlet pipes. Socket terminals are carried by an' insulating base fixedat the bottom of the said tank and are connected to the main currentsupply. The heating elements each comprises a conductor or resistancewire wound on a former having connected thereto plugs, with which theends of the conductor wire are in connection, for insertion in theaforesaid sockets carried by the base. The heating elements are held inper! 'on in the tank by means of upright tubular guides into which thesaid elements are inserted. I

In a modified form of construction of heater element the top thereof maybe provi d with tern'iinals which make electrical connection with theconductor or resistance wire so that, if desired, it may be possible toinsert a second series or tier upon the first, in which case theconductor wires may be in. series with one another, or may be connectedin parallel as desired. It will be understood that I may employ anynumber of heating elements side by side or any number of tiers ofelements.

To enable the invention to be fully understood I will describe it byreference to the accompanying drawing, in which figure 1 is a sectionalelevation of an electric rater-heater constructed in accordance with theinvention.

Figures 2, 3 and. 4, are, respectively, sec- 'tions on the lines 22, 33and 44l, Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation of one of the electric heatingelements detached and drawn to a larger scale than Figures 1 to 4.

Figures 6 and 7 are, respectively, a plan view and an underside view ofthe said element.

the tank having the inlet pipe I) for the cold water and the outlet pipe6 for the water after being heated, the latter pipe being shown in theform of a spiral. The bottom of the tank is formed by the base (Z, whichhas socket terminals 6, e to receive plugs on the current supply leads,not shown, 7", f are the tubular guides within the tank a for theheating elements, the said guides being mounted upon and being open tothe base (Z and extending through perforated battles g, g arrangedtransversely of the tank a.

ii, i are the socket terminals carried by the base and connected to theterminals 6, e as hereinafter described, the said sockets being directlycarried by a slab of insulating material 7c is the conductor orresistance wire of each heating element and Z is the former on which thesaid wire is wound, m, n being socket terminals carried by one end ofthe said former with which the two ends of the wire /a are in electricalconnection, one end of the said wire being directly connected to thesocket m whilst the other end of the said wire is connected directly toa metal fitting 0 carried at the other end of the former Z and which isin electrical connection with the socket nby the insulated wire 0. p, gare the plugs which engage, respectively, with the sockets in, n andwith the sockets 7i, i.

in order that the heating elements can be arranged in tiers, the endsthereof remote from those carrying the terminals in, n are provided withplug terminals s the latter being formed on, or attached to, thefittings 0 whilst the former are in electrical connection with theterminals m by the insulated wire t.

By this arrangement it will be seen that the socket terminals M, /1, ofone heating element can be engaged with the plug terminals 7', a ofanother heating element so that in the case of two tiers of heatingelements arranged in this manner, as shown in the drawing, the currentsupply from the main leads for the upper tier will flow by way of Tilllllll lli till

llti

the wires 0 and t, the circuit for the two tiers thus being in parallel.lit is to be understood, however, that the wires is may be connected tothe terminals of the formers Z so as to be in series.

lin the iilrawings, l have shown two tiers of eight heating elementseach, divided into two groups connected in parallel, one set ofterminals ll of one group being connected by the wire it to one of themain sockets e whilst the other set oi terminals t of the said group areconnected. by the wire '0 to one set ct. terminals b o'l. theothergroup, the other set of terminals t of which are connected. by the wireto to the other main socket e.

'lhe exposed plug terminals 1' and s, Figure 1, of the upper tier ofheating elements are shown in engagement with blocks r of insulatingmaterial to prevent them making contact with the ends oi the tubularguides Although l have illustrated the heater as provided, with twotiers of heating elen'ients it is to be understood that one only or morethan two tiers may be employed.

The base (5 is closed at the bottom by a slab oi? insulating materialsupported by ametal tray y secured in position by screws 2., so that itwill be necessary, when placing the heating elemenets in position in thetubular guides t, or removing them there from, to remove the said slaba: and to detach the phigs p from the sockets /1 m and the plugs g tromthe sockets i, )2.

ln practice, it may be advantageous lo surrouni'l the water ta k with alagging oi? wood or other non conducting material for preventing theescape oil heat.

l llhcn it is desired tl'iat the heater should be usul for producingboiling water, it will be advantageous to ,ause the water to pro ceed ina i1-l1')ll2li or circuitous course in order to allow it to obtain muchheat as possible from the elements be'lore reaching the outlet pipe,that is to say, the water may be ledv into the heater from the top andalloweil to how spirally or circuilously down the one element and up thenext and so on.

From the above dcscri ion it will be understood that my inventionpermits of the manufacture of stock size heater bodies, as apart "romthe heating elements;', and pet'- mits olf the ready replacement ofbroken elements, which can be QllQCltXl by the user without disturbingthe wa ter connections to the heater body.

It is also possible for the man utacturers to stock standard sizeelements of standard voltages which has not hitherto been por i ble.

ill-laying now particularly described and ascertained the nature of mysaid invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declarethat what I claim is 2- l. An electrically heated water-heatercomprising a tank, a plurality of upright tubular guides secured to thebottom of the tank and extending within the latter, the said guidesbeing closed at their upper ends and open at their lower ends to theexterior of the tank, heating elements within the tubular guides, eachcomprising a conductor of resistance wire wound on a former, lined.inverted socket terminals beneath the tank for the supply of current tothe heating elements and detachable plug terminals at the lower ends ofthe heating elements for insertion in the said sockets as the saidelements are raised. to place them in position in the tubular guides.

22. An electrically heated. comprising a tank, a phu'ality of uprighttubular guides secured to the bottom of the tank and extending withinthe latter, the said guides being closed at their upper ends and open attheir lower ends to the exterior ot the tank, heating elements withinthe tulgiular guides each comprising a conductor o'lt' resistance wirewound on a former, lined inverted socket terminals beneath the tank forthe supply of current for the heating elemenl's, socket terminals at thelower ends of the heating elements tor the heating wire and plugtermii'lals fitting within the latter socket terminals for insertioninto the in verted socket terminals as the said elements are raised toplace them in position in the tubular guides.

33. A. water-heater as claimed in claim 2, wherein each heating elementhas a set of plug terminals at the end opposite to that carrying thedetachable plug tm'minals and in electrical connection with the latterthrough the medium of the resishmce conductor, and adapted to engagewith the socket terminals on the lower end of another similar heatingelement, whereby the said elements are connected in series with eachother.

4. A water-heater as'claimed in claim 2, wherein. each heating elementhas a set of plug terminals at the end opposite to that carrying thedetachable plug terminals, in electrical. connection with the latter,other than by way of the resistance wire, and adapted to engage with thesocket terminals on the lower end. of another similar heating element,whereby the said elements are con-- nected in. parallel.

JUHN HENRY lZCVVARl.

watmr-hcater r llu

